What began as a commercial for-profit art gallery in downtown Bridgeport has evolved during the past decade into a nonprofit tool that enriches the community -- adults and children alike.

Serving much like a community arts center, City Lights Gallery will soon observe a landmark anniversary with "10"/The Celebration on Saturday, May 10. The gallery is using the event as a springboard to raise funds and re-spark community support. For those who donate $150 or more, a complimentary (10-inch square) piece of art will be available from noted area artists.

Director Suzanne Kachmar is the gallery's keeper of the flame and tireless scheduler of constantly changing art exhibitions (many by nationally renowned artists); free community receptions; art talks and demonstrations by experts; music, poetry and dramatic readings, including those by Broadway actors; drawing classes; and outreach programs for hundreds of Bridgeport schoolchildren and under-served adults each year. In addition, City Lights is the organizer of the popular annual fall classic car show around McLevy Green and a prime mover of the Bridgeport Art Trail weekend.

In addition to working to keep City Lights alive -- and expanding all the time -- Kachmar is considered by many as one of the city's most dedicated advocates for transforming former industrial cities into economic success stories through the arts.

Robbin Zella, director of the multimillion-dollar Housatonic Museum of Art collection, said, "Suzanne Kachmar is working at the intersection between the arts and community development. She knows that the arts are an important part of healthy communities and she has demonstrated this by providing a space for practicing artists with City Lights Gallery, creating events like the Bridgeport Art Trail to introduce our artists to the region, and by bringing art into the schools and fostering a love of the arts in our children. She is helping to make Bridgeport an exciting place to live, work and visit."

One of the reasons that Kachmar has worked so hard for City Lights' success as a nonprofit is grounded in her own fond memories of Bridgeport's gathering spots of decades ago that served as "incubators for creative thought."

"Originally, 30 years ago a coffee house/art gallery opened on Fairfield Avenue, replacing an establishment called the Pin Up. It was the initiative of artist Dan Makara. Local artists from the Greater Bridgeport area -- along with a few (dynamic) personalities in the form of poet-philosophers, musicians and creative thinkers -- frequented the place. Along with putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls, I had the great pleasure to hang art there," she said.

"Fast forward 30 years ... and history is repeating itself -- and in this case, the repeat of history is a good thing," she added. "The City Lights current staff, board, artists, patrons and visitors owe gratitude to Phil Kuchma, who initiated the rebirth of City Lights."

It was Kuchma, a successful downtown developer, who opened City Lights as a commercial gallery, but soon came to realize the city was not quite ready for such a bold move. Rather than board up the space and walk away, Kuchma was willing to listen to Kachmar's suggestion for a different type of future for the gallery.

When it was still a commercial venture, "I was approached by (then-gallery Director Bernadette D'Amico) to exhibit art at City Lights, and like many artists and first-time visitors, I was impressed with the space.

"One of my proclivities is to make a lot of suggestions: some are good, some get me in trouble. (Subsequently) after being involved with City Lights and assessing its potential and purpose, I blurted out: `City Lights should be a nonprofit.' Phil Kuchma quickly replied, `OK, you're on the board.' I have since learned to be more aware of this habit to blurt out what seems to me to be the blatantly obvious truth," she added, laughing.

"During the early years of establishing the nonprofit, we used the `throw-the-spaghetti-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks' method of finding out what worked for the community and those dedicated to City Lights. "Now that some of the spaghetti has stuck, and we have begun to find our place in the community, we have identified our mantra: to serve the community through art. And every year we try to add a new focus to our regular events to ensure variety and fresh programming."

For example, a group of sixth-graders came from Bridgeport's Beardsley School to view the exhibit, "`Common Threads."

"Students viewed the exhibit of art that was made on or about fabric, including batiks from Nigeria and quilts from Gee's Bend, Ala.," Kachmar said. "And then the gallery was transformed into a studio, with the children being taught how to weave by master artists Kofi Ayissi and Ruben Marroquin, followed by a film about a master Kente cloth weaver in Ghana.

"It was an extraordinary day for the kids," but days like that do cost serious money. Consequently the gallery relies on community support and artist-membership dues, as well as major funders.